Obrazy na stronie
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them resemble a tempest. The same figure recurs lxvi. 15. Comp, beside xvii. 13; xxi. 1; xxix. 6.

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of anguish). According to that we must separate, then, y from 1181, a union for which there is no other authority than the (for us not bindThe 29th verse finally describes the attack and ing) Masoretic tradition, and then we must read victory of the enemy. The discourse which, to For this reading, however, we have the this point, has had almost a regular beat, and progressed, one might say, with a martial step, support of another passage, which, so far as I now becomes irregular and bounding. With know, has never hitherto been adduced by any mighty impetuosity that reveals itself in a battle expositor for the elucidation of our verse, viz.: cry that is compared to the roaring of a lion, the Job xviii. 6. There we read enemy attacks. It is strange that the Prophet expresses this thought doubly. But this doubled expression has apparently only a rhetorical aim. If we take into account the comparison of deep growling, we receive the impression that the Prophet would indicate that the enemy has at command every modulation of the lion's voice. The moment the lion seizes his prey, he ceases to oar, and one hears only deep growling. The seized prey he saves for himself: i. e., he bears t away out of the tumult. (recurs only xi. 5), is the young lion no longer sucking but become independent of its dam. 4 is the sucking lion. The plural is used here, probably, on purpose to make prominent the numbers in contrast

.לביא with

"the light shall be dark in his tent." That
passage speaks of the wicked whose light goes
out, and whose fire burns no longer, in whose
tent, therefore, it is dark. Can then the com-
ing together of these words
be ac-
cidental? I am the less inclined to believe this,
as the thought, that the light itself becomes dark,
and not the lighted room, is a very specific one.
Something similar may be found xiii. 10; Ezek.
xxxii. 8; Joel iv. 15.—D'' is âñ. 2ɛy. It is
derived from "to drop down," which oc-
curs only Deut. xxxii. 2; xxxiii. 28. 1
appears to be kindred to it. As

from by the addition

originates

of the letterlike 7 from D72 and 72 from 17 (CHALD., fixit, transfixit) see GREEN 193, 2 c, and as

y very often joined to

(Deut. iv. 11; v. 19; Joel ii. 2; Zeph. i. 15; Ezek. xxxiv. 12) undoubtedly means thick clouds, so D'Dy can be nothing else than the cloudy obscurity, the the rain clouds out of which the rain drops down.

8. And in that day—the heavens thereof. -Ver. 30. The Prophet hastens to the conclusion. For this purpose he comprehends all that he has still to say in one figure drawn with a few, yet strong traits. It is also a proof of the great rhetorical art of the Prophet, that he does not name Judah. He rather allows to be guessed what was painful to him to say. For we need not refer the words only to what immediately precedes, as if it were declared that what is deThis rain cloud is now regarded as the tent scribed ver. 30, happens on the same day as that covering of the earth, or at least as belonging to of which ver. 29 speaks. For that is to be unit, like e. g., xl. 22 it says: that stretcheth out derstood of course. But this "in that day" rethe heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out fers back to ii. 11, 17, 20; iii. 7, 18; iv. 1 and as a tent to dwell in," (comp. Job xxxvi. 29; to iv. 2, so that hereby is intimated that this Ps. civ. 2 sqq.). The expression "in his tent" T rophecy too, shall be fulfilled in the "last days." would not be suitable. For the light that illuand as iv. 2 speaks of a day of great happiness, mines a tent, stands within under the tent cover. he passage previously named, however, of a day But the light that illumines the earth, is above dreadful judgment, so the Prophet refers and beyond the heavenly tent cover. If, then, it ack to both, meaning to intimate that when is to be dark on earth, the light must be hindered hese final dreadful visitations of the last from penetrating down from above. Therefore I ime shall have come upon Israel, then shall translate: " and the light becomes dark through its ome the daybreak of salvation. I see therefore clouds." The fem., suffix is therefore to be referred in this phrase "in that day" a fresh proof of the to "earth." It will not do to refer it to 18, connection of chap. v., with the preceding chap- as GESENIUS does, referring to Job xxxvi. ters ii. iv. Like surges of the sea, therefore, ra- 32 (Thes. p. 1072), because then it must read ging and roaring, shall the enemy fall on Judahn. If one would, with HITZIG, make i in that day? DELITZSCH appropriately refers to Sierra-Leone because, "those that first landed dependent on 2, then the expression is surthere, mistook the noise of the surf breaking on prising. For the opposite of "earth" is not the precipitous shore for the roar of lions." The the light," but "the heaven." The explanasubject of (Niph. ά. λɛу.), is evidently tions "distress and light" (DELITZSCH), and Judah. But the further meaning of these words "stone and gleam" (i. e., hail and lightning, presents great difficulties. I think two passages DRECHSLER) seem to me to pay too little regard shed light on this one. The first is cited by all to the two parallel passages quoted. I would, commentators, viz.: viii. 42. When we read moreover, call attention to the fact that in this there: "And He looks to the earth and behold there lies, too, a significant reference to trouble and darkness," (w) we the doings of the people who, according to ver. justified in taking in our passage to- Because they do that, their light shall be dark20" "make darkness light and light darkness." gether; either as adjective (compressed, thickened wholly and permanently. And at the same darkness, is masc.), or as apposition (VI- time we find here a remarkable antithesis to iv. TRINGA, HENDEWERK), or as genitive (darkness 5. 6. There God creates upon Mount Zion a

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cloud by day and flaming fire by night, for a shade by day against the heat, and for shelter against rain and storm. Here darkness of anguish shall cover the earth and the rain-clouds shall not only overwhelm the unprotected earth with their showers, but beside these keep back the light, therefore, in a sense, be a shelter before the light. Thus this chapter, which had apparently begun so joyously, ends in deepest night and gloom. One feels that the discourse of the Prophet has exhausted itself. We are at the end. Nothing can follow these mighty, and at the same time vain words but-silence. But the informed know well that the two prophetic lamps that are thrust out before (ii. 1-4 and iv. 2-6) stretch out beyond this period of misfortune. When, then, ver. 30, it reads "in that day," we know that this is a hint that refers back out of the midnight gloom of this conclusion to the comforting beginning iv. 2. That very day, when the evil fruits of the vineyard sink away in night and horror, begins for the "Branch of Jehovah " the day of light, and of eternal glory.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

also

upright against all other religions, and comfort our hearts with this being the only true religion which we profess. Therefore, too, in two psalms, Ps. ii. and ex., mount Zion is expressly signified: "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion;" likewise: "The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion." LUTHER.

2. On ver. 2. LUTHER makes emphatic, as something pertaining to "the wonderful nature of this kingdom," that "other kingdoms are established and administered by force and arms. But here, because the mountain is lifted up, the nation shall flow (fluent), i. e., they shall come voluntarily, attracted by the virtues of the church. For what is there sweeter or lovelier than the preaching of the gospel? Whereas Moses frightens weak souls away. Thus the prophet by the word fluent, "flow," has inlaid a silent description of the kingdom of Christ, which Christ gives more amply when He says: Matth. xi. 12, "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force," i. e. "they are not compelled, but they compel themselves." "Morever rivers do not flow up mountains, but down them; but here is such an unheard-of thing in the kingdom of Christ."-STARKE.

etc. "Here thou seest the worship, works and 3. LUTHER remarks on "and shall say: come," efforts and sacrifices of Christians. For they do only the one work, that they go to hear and to learn. All the rest of the members must serve their neighbors.

These two, ears and heart,

1. On ii. 2. Domus Dei, etc. "The house of God is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, who, themselves, too, are mountains, quasi imitators of Christ. (They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, Ps. cxxv. 1.) Whence, also, upon one of the mountains Christ founded the Church and said: Thou art Peter, etc., Matth. xvi. 18." JEROME."We can understand Je- must serve God only. For the kingdom rests on rusalem by the mountain of God, for we see how the word alone. Sectaries and heretics, when the believing run thither, and how those that have they have heard the gospel once, instantly become accepted the testimony come thither and seize the masters, and pervert the Prophet's word, in that blessing that proceeds thence. But we may they say: Come let us go up that we may teach by the house of God understand the churches him his way and walk in our paths. They despread over land and sea, as we believe St. Paul, spise, therefore, the word as a familiar thing and who says, 'we are the house of God,' Heb. iii. 6. their spirit and commend themselves to the seek new disputations by which they may display And so we may recognize the truth of the pro-crowd. But Christians know that the words of phecy. For the Church of God stands shining forth, and the nations, forsaking wickedness that has long had dominion over them, hasten to her and are enlightened by her." THEODORET.Ecclesia est, etc. "The church is a mountain exalted and established above all other mountains, but in spirit. For if you regard the external look of the church from the beginning of the world, then in New Testament times, you will see it oppressed, contemned, and in despair. Yet, notwithstanding, in that contempt it is exalted above all mountains. For all kingdoms and all dominions that have ever been in the world have perished. The church alone endures and triumphs over heresies, tyrants, Satan, sin, death and hell, and that by the word only, by this despised and feeble speech alone. Moreover it is a great comfort that the bodily place, whence first the spiritual kingdom should arise, was so expressly predicted, that consciences are assured of that being the true word, that began first to be preached in that corner of Judea, that it may be for us a mount Zion, or rule for judging of all religions and all doctrines. The Turkish Alcoran did not begin in Zion-therefore it is wicked doctrine. The varions Popish rites, laws, traditions began not in Zion-therefore they are wicked, and the very doctrines of devils. So we may hold ourselves

the Holy Ghost can never be perfectly learned as
long as we are in the flesh. For Christianity
does not consist in knowing, but in the disposi-
tion. This disposition can never perfectly believe
the word on account of the weakness of the sinful
minate the word, in order that the heart, from
flesh. Hence they ever remain disciples and ru-
time to time, may flame up anew.
with us if we do not continue in the constant use
It is all over
of the word, in order to oppose it to Satan in
temptation (Matth. iv.). For immediately after
raised up by nothing but the word. Others that
sinning ensues an evil conscience, that can be
forsake the word sink gradually from one sin into
tianity must be held to consist in hearing the
another, until they are ruined.
tions, whether of the heart or body, may know
word, and those that are overcome by tempta-
that their hearts are empty of the word."

Therefore Chris

4. VITRINGA remarks on the words, "Out of Zion goes forth the law," v. 3. "If strife springs up among the disciples concerning doctrine or discipline, one must return to the pattern of the doctrine and discipline of the school at Jerusalem. For shall go forth," stands here only as in Luke ii. 1, "There went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus." In this sense, too, Paul says,

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1 Cor. xiv. 36, "What? came the word of God |
out from you?" The word of God did not go
forth from Corinth, Athens, Rome, Ephesus, but
from Jerusalem, a fact that bishops assembled in
Antioch opposed to Julius I. (Sozoм. hist. eccl. III.
8, "the orientals acknowledged that the Church
of Rome was entitled to universal honor-although
those who first propagated a knowledge of Chris-
tian doctrine in that city came from the East").
CYRIL took NY in the false sense of KаTEλEALTε
Tv Lián, “has forsaken Zion." When the Lord
opened the understandings of the disciples at Em-
maus, to understand the Scriptures and see in the
events they had experienced the fulfilment of
what was written concerning Him in the law,
Prophets and Psalms, He cannot have forgotten
the present passage. Of this we may be the more
assured since the words: "Thus it is written
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day: And that repent-
ance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all nations beginning at Jerusa-
lem." Luke xxiv. 46, 47, point clearly to vers. 2
and 3 of our passage. Therefore too, JUSTIN
MARTYR Apol. i. (commonly ii.), 49, says: "But
where the prophetic spirit predicts the future, he
says: from Zion shall go forth the law, etc. And
that this finally came to pass in fact, you may
credibly assure yourselves. For from Jerusalem
have men gone forth into the world, twelve in
number, and these were unlearned, that knew not
how to speak. But by the might of God they have
proclaimed to all mankind that they were sent by

Christ in order to teach all the word of God."

"Zion is contrasted here with Mount Sinai, whence the law came, which in the Old Testament was the foundation of all true doctrine: But in the New Testament Mount Zion or Jerusalem has the privilege to announce that now a more perfect law would be given and a new Covenant of God with men would be established. Thus Zion and Jerusalem are, so to speak, the nursery and the mother of all churches and congregations of the New Testament."-STARKE.

5. FÖRSTER remarks on the end of ver. 3, that the gospel is the sceptre of Jesus Christ, according to Ps. cx. 2 and xlv. 7 (the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre). "For by the word Christ rules His church (Rom. x. 14 sqq.)."

6. On ver. 4. "Par optima rerum." FOERSTER. The same author finds this prophecy fulfilled by Christ, who is our peace, who has made of both one, and broken down the partition that was between, in that by His flesh He took away the enmity (Eph. ii. 14). FOERSTER, Moreover, combats the Anabaptists, who would prove from this passage that waging war is not permitted to Christians. For our passage speaks only against the privata Christianorum discordia But waging war belongs to the publicum magistratus officium. Waging war, therefore, is not forbidden, if only the war is a just one. To be such, however, there must appear according to THOMAS, part. 2 th. quæst. 40. 1) auctoritatis principis, 2) causa justa, 3) intentio bellantium justa, or ut allii efferunt: 1) jurisdictio indicentis, 2) offensio patientis, 3) intentio finem (?) convenientis.

7. On ver. 4. JEROME regarded the time of Augustus, after his victory at Actium, as the ful

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filling of this prophecy. Others, as CoCCEIUS, refer the words, "they shall turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks," to the time of Constantine the Great; and the words "nation shall not lift up sword against nation" to the period of the restoration of religious peace in Germany,-finally the words: they shall no more learn war," to a future time that is to be hoped for. Such interpretations are, however, just as one-sided as those that look only for a spiritual fulfilment of prophecy. For how is an inward fulfilment of this promise of peace to be thought of which would not have the outward effects as its consequence? Or how is an outward fulfilment, especially such as would deserve the name, conceivable without the basis of the inward? Or must this peaceful time be looked for only in heaven? Why then does the promise stand here? It is a matter of course that there is peace in heaven: for where there is no peace there can be no heaven. The promise has sense only if its fulfilment is to be looked for on earth. The fulfilment will take place when the first three petitions of the Lord's prayer are fulfilled, i. e. when God's name shall be held holy by us as it in itself is holy, when the kingdom of God is come to everything, without and within, and rules alone over all, when the will of God is done on earth as in heaven. Christendom makes this prayer quite as much with the consciousness that it cannot remain unfulfilled, as with the consciousness that it must find its fulfilment on earth. For, if referred to heaven, these petitions are without meaning. Therefore there is a time of for on earth. It is not every day's evening," i. universal inward and outward peace to be looked e. one must await the event, and our earth, without the least saltus in cogitando, can yet experience a state of things that shall be related to the present, as the present to the period of trilobites free from the tyranny of the present moment! If one could only keep himself But our entire, great public, that has made itself at home in Philistia, lives in the sweet confidence that there is no world beside that of which we take notice on the surface of the earth, nor ever was one, nor ever will be.

and saurians.

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8. On ver. 4. Poets reverse the figure to portray the transition from peaceful to warlike conditions. Thus VIRGIL, Georg. I. ver. 506 sq.:

Non ullus aratro

Dignus honos, squalent abductis arva colonis. Et curva rigidum falces conflantur in ensem. Aeneide VII. ver. 635 sq.:

Vomeris huc et falcis honos, huc omnis aratri
Cessit amor; recoquunt patrios fornacibus enses.
OVID, Fast. I. ver. 697 sqq.:

Bella diu tenuere viros. Erat aptior ensis
Vomere, cedebat taurus arator equo.
Sarcula cessabant, versique in pila ligones.
Factaque de rastri pondere cassis erat.

9. On ver. 5. As Isaiah puts the glorious prophecy of his fellow-prophet Micah at the head, he illuminates the future with a splendid, shining, comforting light. Once this light is set up, it of itself suggests comparisons. The questions arise: how does the present stand related to that shining

bow the knees of all in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and all tongues must confess that Christ is the LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

future? What difference obtains? What must happen for that condition of holiness and glory to be brought about? The Christian Church, too, and even each individual Christian must put himself in the light of that prophetic statement. 12. On ii. 22. Of what do men not make idols! On the one hand that will humiliate us, for we The great industrial expositions of modern times must confess with the motto of Charles V.: non- often fill me with dismay, when I have seen how dum! And long still will we need to cry: Watch-men carry on an actual idolatrous worship with man what of the night (xxi. 11)? On the other hand the Prophet's word will also spur us up and cheer us. For what stronger impulse can be imagined than the certainty that one does not contend in vain, but may hope for a reward more glorious than all that ever came into a man's heart? (lxiv. 4; 1 Cor. ii. 9).

In the time of the second temple, in the evenings of the first days of the feast of Tabernacles, great candelabras were lighted in the forecourt of the temple, each having four golden branches, and their light was so strong that it was nearly as light as day in Jerusalem. That might be for Jerusalem a symbol of that "let us walk in the light of the LORD" But Jerusalem rejoiced in this light, and carried on all sorts of pastime, yet it was not able to learn to know itself in this light, and by this self-knowledge to come to true repentance and conversion.

10. On ver. 8, "their land is full of idols." "Not only images and pictures are idols, but every notion concerning God that the godless heart forms out of itself without the authority of the Scripture. The notion that the Mass is effective ex opere operato, is an idol. The notion that works are demanded for justification with God, is an idol. The notion that God takes delight in fasts, peculiar clothes, a special order of life, is an idol. God wilts not that we should set up out of our own thoughts a fashion of worshipping Him; but He says: "In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee," Exod. xx. 24 -Luther.

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these products of human science and art, as if that all were not, in the end, God s work, too, but human genius were alone the creator of these wonders of civilization. How wickedly this so-called worship of genius demeans itself! How loathsome is the still more common cultus of power, mammon and the belly!

"The

13. On iii. 1 sqq. Causa owoTikh, etc. saving cause of the commonwealth is the pos session of men of the sort here mentioned, which Plato also knew, and Cicero from Plato, each of whom judge, commonwealths would be blessed if philosophers, i. e., wise and adept men were to administer them."-FOERSTER. The same writer cites among the causes why the loss of such men is ruinous, the changes that thence ensue. changes in the commonwealth are hurtful. XENOPH. Hellen. 2: “ εἰσὶ μὲν πᾶσαι μεταβολαὶ πολιTELOV Davarηpópol." ARISTOT. Metaph. 2: "ái. μeraßohaì návτwv rapaxwdeiç.”

All

14. On ver. 1. "The stay of bread,” etc. VI-
TRINGA cites Horat. Satir. L. II.,
3 v. 153 sq.:

Deficient inopem venæ te, ni cibus atque
Ingens accedit stomacho fultura ruenti.

And on ver. 2 sq. he cites CICERO, who, De Nat Deorum III., calls these "præsidia humana,” “ 'firmamenta reipublicæ." On ver. 6 sq. the same author cites the following passage from LIVY (xxvi. chap. 6): "Cum fame fer oque (Capuani) urgerentur, nec ulla spes superesset iis, qui nati in spem ho│norum erant, honores detrectantibus, Lesius querendo desertam et proditam a primoribus Capuam summum magistratum ultimus omnium Campanorum cepit !" On ver. 9 he quotes SENECA: De vita beata, chap. xii.: "Itaque quod unum habebant in peccatis bo num perdunt peccandi verecundiam. Laudant enim ea, quibus erubescant, et vitio gloriantur."

Some are

11. On ii. 9-21. When men have brought an idol into existence, that is just to their mind, whether it be an idolum manu factum, or an idolum mente excogitatum, there they are all wonder, all worship. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Then the idol has a time of great prosperity and glory. But sooner or later there comes a time 15. On iii. 4 and 12. FOERSTER remarks: when the judgment of God overtakes the idol and Pueri, etc. "Boys are of two sorts. its servants. God suffers sin to become ripe like so in respect to age, others in respect to moral men let a conspiracy, like they let fruit ripen. qualifications. So, too, on the contrary there is But when the right time comes then He steps an old age of two sorts: "For honorable age is forth in such a fashion that they creep into not that which standeth in length of time, nor that mouse-holes to hide themselves, if it were pos-is measured by number of years. But wisdom is sible, from the lightning of His eye and His hand. Where then are the turned-up noses, the big mouths, the impudent tongues? Thus it has often happened since the world began. But this being brought to confession shall happen in the highest degree to the puffed-up world at tha day when they shall see that one whom they pierced, and whom they thought they might despise as the crucified One, coming in His glory to judge the world. Then they shall have anguish and sorrow, then shall they lament and faint away with apprehension of the things that draw nigh. But those that believed on the Lord in His holiness, shall then lift up their heads for that their redemption draws nigh. At that time, indeed, shall the LORD alone be high, and before Him shall

the true gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is the true old age." Wisd. iv. 8, 9. Examples of young and therefore foolish kings of Israel are Rehoboam ("the young fool gambled away ten whole tribes at one bet" 1 Kings xii). Áhaz, who was twenty years of age when he began to reign (2 Kings xvi. 2). Manasseh who was twelve years (2 Kings xxi. 1,) and Amon who was twenty-two years (2 Kings xxi. 19).

16. On iii. 7. FOERSTER remarks: Nemo se, etc. "Let no one intrude himself into office, especially when he knows he is not fit for it,” and then cites: "Seek not of the LORD pre-eminence, neither of the king the seat of honor. Justify not thyself before the LORD; and boast not of thy wisdom before the king. Seek not to be

judge, being not able to take away iniquity." Ecclus. vii. 4-6.”—“ Wen aber Gott schickt, den macht er auch geschickt.”

17. On iii. 8. “Their tongue and their doings are against the LORD." Duplici modo, etc. "God may be honored by us in two outward ways: by word and deed, just as in the same way others come short; "to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 15.-VITRINGA.

18. On iii. 9. cunda post, etc. wreck, and solace piety."-JEROME.

"They hide not their sin." Se-
"The next plank after ship-
of miseries is to hide one's im-

19. On iii. 10. "Now He comforts the pious as in Ps. ii. His anger will soon kindle, but it shall be well with all that trust in Him. So Abraham, so Lot was delivered; so the apostles and the remnant of Judah when Jerusalem was besieged. | For the Lord helps the righteous (Ps. xxxvii. 17, 39)."-LUTHER.

20. On iii. 13, 14.

"Judicabit judices judex generalis,

Neque quidquam proderit dignitas papalis,
Sive sit episcopus, sive cardinalis,
Reus condemnabitur, nec dicetur qualis."
"Rhythmi vulgo noti," quoted by FOERSTER.

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21. On iii. 16 sq. Usus vestium, etc. Clothes have a four-fold use: 1) they are the badge of guilt, or souvenir of the fall (Gen. iii. 7, 10, 21); 2) they should be coverings against the weather; 3) they may be ornaments for the body, (Prov: xxxi. 22, 25); 4) they may serve as a mark of rank (2 Sam. xiii. 18).-The abuse of clothes is three-fold; 1) in regard to the material, they may be costlier or more splendid than one's wealth or rank admits of; 2) in respect of form, they may betray buffoonery and levity; 3) in respect to their object, they may be worn more for the display of luxury and pride than for protection and modest adornment."-FOERSTER.

is, nevertheless, not incorrect so far as the broader meaning includes the narrower concentrically. If "Branch of Jehovah" signifies all course, that one must be included who is such in that is the personal offshoot of God, then, of the passage xxviii. 5 does not conflict with exthe highest and most perfect sense, and in so far position given by us above.

"the

[J. A. ALEXANDER joins with VITRINGA and HENGSTENBERG in regarding "the fruit of the earth," as referring to the same subject as branch of the LORD," viz.: the Messiah; and thus, while the latter term signifies the divine nature of the Messiah, the former signifies His human origin and nature; or if we translate "land" instead of earth, it points to his Jewish human origin. Thus appears an exact respondence to the two parts of Paul's description, Rom. i. 3, 4, and to the two titles used in the New Testament in reference to Christ's two natures, SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN.TR.].

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23. On iv. 3, 4. Great storms and upheavals, therefore, are needful, in order to make the fulfilment of this prophecy possible. There must first come the breath of God from above, and the flame of God from beneath over the earth, and the human race must first be tossed and sifted. The earth and mankind must first be cleansed by great judgments from all the leaven of evil. [J. A. ALEXANDER, with LUTHER, CALVIN, EWALD, maintains concerning the word Spirit in ver. 4, that "the safest and most satisfactory interpretation is that which understands by it a personal spirit, or as Luther expresses it, the Spirit who shall judge and burn."-TR.]. What survives these judgments is the remnant of which Isaiah speaks. This shall be holy. In it alone shall the LORD live and rule. This remnant is one with the new humanity which in every part, both of Christ the second Adam. This remnant, at as respects body and soul, will represent the image the same time, comprehends those whose names are written in the book of life. What sort of a divine book this may be, with what sort of corporal, heavenly reality, of course we know not. 22. On iv. 2. "Germen Jehovae est nomen For Himself God needs no book. Yet if we Messia mysticum, a nemine intellectum, quam qui compare the statements of the Revelation of John tenet mysterium Patris et Christi. Idem valet quod regarding the way in which the last judgment filius propago Patris naturalis, in quo patris sui shall be held, with certain other New Testament imago et gloria perfectissime splendet, Jessaiae in seqq. passages, I think we obtain some explanation. (ix. 5) 7, 1, filius, Joanni ỏ 76yos Tov deo, We read Matt. xix. 28, that on the day of the vids protokos, povoyevhs, processio Patris natu- regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on ralis. Est hic eruditi cujusdam viri elegans obser- the throne of His glory, the twelve apostles, too, shall sit on twelve thrones to judge the generaratio, quae eodem tendit, quam non licet intactam tions of Israel. And 1 Cor. v. 2, we read that praetermittere. Comparat ille inter se nomina Mes- the saints shall judge the world. But, Rev. xx. sic 13 (Jer. xxiii. 5) et n'y in hoc 11, we find again the great white throne, whereon loco. Cum autem prior appellatio absque dubitatione sits the great Judge of the living and the dead, innuat, Messiam fore filium Davidis, docet posterio- after that, just before (ver. 4), it was said: “And rem ávaλoyikās non posse aliud significare quam fili-I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgum Jehovae. quod nomen Christi Jesu est vσTIKOTEpov, omni alio nomine excellentius. Addit non minus docte, personam, quae hic germen Jehovae dicitur, deinceps a propheta nostro appellari Jehovam (xxviii. 5)."- VITRINGA. This exposition, which is retained by most Christian and orthodox commentators, ignores too much the fundamental meaning of the word ny, "Branch." It

ment was given unto them." Afterwards it reads (ver. 12): "And I saw the dead, small and great. stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." And (ver. 15). "And whosoever was not found written in the book of

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